Dispute rocks family over inheritance sharing in Delta

Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

The sharing of the inheritance of a dead brother has pitched family members against each other over the mode of sharing the properties.

Family members of Owojowo Benjamin in Isoko South local Government Area of Delta state have failed to agree on the sharing formula of their late brother’s inheritance barely seven days after the completion of the burial rites.

Sources alleged that some members of the family who were not satisfied with the authenticity of the will left behind by the deceased have threatened to file a law suit against his wife, contesting the validity of the will in which their interests was not fully accommodated.

It was further gathered that the deceased before his death had worked in an oil firm and was suffering from an undisclosed ailment before his eventual death, leaving behind nine children whom he had from three different women.

However, his legal wife is allegedly laying claim to her late husband’s properties without due consideration to the wellbeing of the other children.

But a family member, Steve Akpokona, who spoke to journalists said that their brother’s legal wife is claiming to have borrowed huge sums of money for her husband’s treatment, a claim not attested to in the will.

She is therefore, insisting that the debts incurred in the process of her late husband’s treatment be settled from the sale of the plots of land owned by their brother and from other benefits accruing to her husband.

Mrs. Rebecca Owojowo, the legal wife of the deceased in her reaction to journalists said, “the family members are arm – twisting my hands on my rights. I will not stop; I must fight for my rights, they are jokers. I took care of my late husband and they are trying to side line me.”

Meanwhile, the eldest son of the deceased, Henry Owojowo however, appealed to elders in the family to wade into the crisis, adding that the crisis had brought shame to the family as they are perceived as struggling for their late brother’s inheritance.